


purloined

by ndnickerson



Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Gen, Kidnapping, Peril
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-10-18 15:30:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10619823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson
Summary: Ned happens onto a most unusual situation... and a most unusual girl.





	

“Hello?”

The mansion really had been grand, once upon a time. Moth-eaten holes in the tattered velvet curtains sent shafts of sunlight down to the waterstained hardwood floors. Nature had made it in, but looters hadn’t, at least not yet; Ned had managed to squeeze his broad-shouldered frame through a broken window in the garage, and pick the door into the main house.

Well. The tip about the crew going after wrought-iron ceiling medallions and tin ceiling tiles had made him immediately think of this house, but at a glance, it was undisturbed.

“Hello?”

Before the echo of his voice had even faded, he heard a distant  _thump_.

The house could be settling, but just in case…

Patches of carpet faded to sage-green by sun exposure were stained with brown rainwater, but as Ned walked up the creaking staircase, he could imagine the house as it had once been. High ceilings, fixtures which had once been gas lamps updated with electric wiring, rods at the ceiling moulding to support heavy framed originals and reproductions, massive fireplaces with ornately carved mantelpieces. Reclaimed glass and banister rails alone…

Ned patted his pocket and shook his head as he climbed to the landing, heading toward that distant thump. He had a lot of other homes to search, and the  _thump_  had likely been a fall of rotting wood or a startled rodent, but he needed to know. He didn’t want to have to retrace his steps.

The grand double doors at the end of the landing likely opened onto a master suite, the kind that would boast a claw-footed tub and four-poster bed, and Ned could already picture it before he opened the doors—

And then he saw the girl, a gag tied tight over her mouth, her legs bound to the legs of a straight-backed writing chair, in the middle of the floor. She was straining, her eyes wide, and when she saw him a muffled cry made it through the gag. 

Ned’s eyes widened, and he rushed over to her; the rug bore marks from heavy furniture, but he didn’t see anything else there, especially not anything she could have used to free herself. He pulled a pocketknife out of his pocket, sliding out his wallet in the process and flipping it open to show her his badge before he put it away again.

“Officer, ma'am. Just hold still for a minute—”

He saw her blue eyes widen a split second too late; when he turned to glance over her shoulder, his knife blade already halfway through the ropes holding her wrists together, he saw two tall men in the double doorway, silhouetted in the light. They both carried guns.

“Told ya she wasn’t working alone. It was just a stall,” sneered the one with the mustache. “But it took too long for the cavalry to arrive, huh, girlie?”

Ned cursed everything. If he’d just called for backup—but he hadn’t expected anything when he had walked in; the place had been still. Deadly still. He set his jaw and gave the ropes a hard downward swipe and dropped the pocketknife into her cupped palms before he obeyed the order to raise his hands. If he had been alone, he would have drawn his gun as fast as he could and risked it—but the young reddish-haired woman was too vulnerable, and he couldn’t take the chance.

“All right. Where’s the goods, jerk?”

He could see that she was straining against her bonds from the corner of his eye, and that the ropes were fraying. He just needed to cover for her. “What you in the market for? Copper, reclaimed wood?”

The mustachioed man sneered again, but his eyes were steely. “Nice try. You know what we want. She passed it off to you, didn’t she. Now give it up.”

Ned took a step away from her to draw their gazes as she slowly worked one hand free. He didn’t know what she was going to do, but he wanted to give her a chance. “What’s in it for me?”

“You and girlie  _might_  walk out of here.” Ned could tell from his tone that the promise was a lie. They had seen the thieves’ faces. By the time anyone found them, the thieves would be well on their way, the merchandise safely stowed away or sold. Whatever it was.

Ned shrugged, taking another step away. “That’s fair,” he said, and then took another step, quickly. The sneering man’s gaze went from Ned to the girl, then back again; Ned could hear the faint creaking of the ropes. “But, I don’t know, I’ve been sticking my neck out and a piece sounds nice. Maybe some kind of finder’s fee, you think? Just a taste. My fence is out of place, and you’d be doing me a favor…”

He took another step to block their view of her, lowering his hands. He had to keep talking, keep them distracted; he didn’t even know what he was saying anymore. “So whaddya say? I mean, who knows. Maybe this could be the start of something good for both of us.”

The chair creaked, the mustachioed man craned his neck to see around Ned—and Ned took the opportunity to tackle the closer man. Then the chair smacked into the other man.

The fight was brief, but fierce. Ned’s shins were smarting and his knuckle was bruised, and the reddish-haired woman was rubbing her jaw, but the two guys were bound on the floor and the wounds would heal. Ned hung up his phone after calling for backup, checking the ropes one last time before he turned to the woman.

“So. Care to catch me up?”

She smiled, rubbing her bruised wrists. “Don’t you think we should make sure it’s safe first?” she asked, her voice a dry croak.

“You should get checked out—”

“Later,” she waved a hand, and he couldn’t help admiring her. She was tough as nails, and she strode down the hall to a built-in set of bookcases. She pressed a few places on the moulding around it, and a section of it popped open, revealing a small opening. She pulled out a small leatherbound book wrapped in age-shredding cellophane.

“This?” he said incredulously.

“This,” she agreed with a little grin. “I need to deliver it to its rightful owner…”

“And that is?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You look skeptical,” she said. “Well, officer, would you like to be there when I deliver it?”

“It’s a date.”

She chuckled. “You don’t even know my name.”

“Give me an hour and I will,” he predicted.

“Why don’t I save you some time,” she said, tilting her head and extending her hand. “Nancy Drew.”

“Ned Nickerson.”

**Author's Note:**

> From otpprompts on tumblr:
> 
> Imagine person A of your OTP looting a huge, previously thought abandoned mansion. They reach one of the rooms to find Person B tied up in a chair. A realises that they aren’t alone in the house, but before they can react to the person found, they end up being attacked by the kidnapper(s) of B and tied up too. The kidnappers mistake A as someone sent to rescue B, but B knows better. From here it’s up to you. 
> 
> If it’s an OT3+ imagine the others of your OT3+ as the kidnappers.


End file.
